CEA-Leti today announced that Mentor Graphics is the fifth industrial partner to join the IMAGINE program designed to develop maskless lithography for IC manufacturing.

Launched by Leti and MAPPER Lithography, the three-year, multiple e-beam-lithography partnership is evaluating a maskless lithography (ML2) infrastructure and studying the use of MAPPER tools for high throughput. It covers a global approach to the technology, including tool assessment, patterning and process integration, data handling, prototyping and cost analysis.

“Multi-beam systems for maskless lithography are contenders for next-generation patterning. The IMAGINE program is offering a unique infrastructure to enable this technology and we want to be an early partner in this research,” said Joseph Sawicki, vice president and general manager of Mentor’s Design to Silicon Division. “Our broad technology base and experience as the leader in optical proximity correction (OPC) and mask process correction (MPC) will provide technical components needed to make sure the data-path technology is ready for production deployment.”

“Data handling and proximity effect correction are key elements to the success of maskless technology,” said Serge Tedesco, CEA-Leti program manager. “Having Mentor Graphics, the worldwide leader in mask data processing, will accelerate the IMAGINE program’s progress toward the introduction of maskless lithography in manufacturing.”

Other partners in the program include TSMC, STMicroelectronics, SOKUDO and TOK. MAPPER, which makes maskless-lithography machines for the semiconductor industry, is supporting the project with its massively parallel electron-beam platforms.